It is known in the art of fiber optics that Bragg gratings embedded in an optical fiber may be embedded in a structure and used to sense parameters such as temperature and/or strain of the structure, such as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,012, entitled “Distributed, Spatially Resolving Optical Fiber Strain Gauge”, to Meltz et al, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,419, entitled “Distributed Multiplexed Optical Fiber Bragg Grating Sensor Arrangement”, to Morey. It is also known that the reflection wavelength λ of the grating 12 changes with temperature (Δλ/ΔT) due to the change in refractive index and grating spacing over temperature, such as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,898, entitled “Incorporated Bragg Filter Temperature Compensated Optical Waveguide Device”, to Morey et al.
However, when an optical fiber grating is used to measure solely temperature and it is not embedded within or bonded or attached to an overall structure being monitored, any strain on the fiber and grating cause the grating reflection wavelength to shift which can cause inaccuracies in the grating temperature measurement.